Domestic Violence

Training Background

In 1999, the National Sheriffs' Association (NSA) entered into a federally funded cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, Office on Violence Against Women (OVW) to develop and deliver the tuition-free Rural Law Enforcement Training: "Domestic Violence Intervention and Investigation." This program was designed for law enforcement, prosecutors, criminal justice personnel, and victim advocates of small towns and rural areas.

As a part of this cooperative agreement, in 2003, NSA, with the National Center for Domestic and Sexual Violence (NCDSV) and the North Carolina Justice Center, began the development of the tuition-free Domestic Violence Training for Communications Professionals (Dispatchers/Call Takers) curriculum to help dispatchers and call takers from small towns and rural areas improve their response to domestic violence calls.

The grant for NSA's rural law enforcement and communication professionals domestic violence programs resulted from the passage of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), part of the Violent Crime and Law Enforcement Act of 1994. VAWA reflects a commitment of the federal government to strengthen the country's response to and to better prevent violence against women, particularly sexual assault and physical abuse. VAWA provides resources to reduce violent crimes against women.

After the close of the grant in 2014, NSA revitalized the two trainings and added them to their offerings of fee-based trainings. The Law Enforcement Training: Domestic Violence Intervention and Investigation as well as the Domestic Violence Training for Communications Professionals (Dispatcher/Call Takers) were expanded to not only include small towns and rural areas, but jurisdictions of any size.

Increased communication and partnership between law enforcement, prosecutors and other criminal justice personnel, advocacy agencies, and community members.

Domestic violence training will increase law enforcement's and call takers' ability to assist victims and their families, to effectively enforce family violence laws, and to prevent further abuse. On-going, mandatory training reinforces good techniques and teaching new techniques is a critical component of ensuring officer safety.